The Viking 1 lander on display at the National Air and Space museum: Did the craft discover evidence of life on Mars

Mars skyline at sunset, pictured from the Viking lander

One forthcoming unmanned mission is the new Mars Science Laboratory rover, called Curiosity, scheduled for launch in November.

The $2.5 billion nuclear-powered machine will land on Mars” surface with a suite of 10 science instruments to try to determine if conditions are favorable for life.

Another key Mars mission is scheduled for 2016. Called the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, it will carry five science instruments and will study gases in Mars” atmosphere, including methane, for evidence of biological or geological activity.

‘The instruments on that atmospheric mission have a factor of 100 to 1,000 increase in sensitivity over what is currently available from Mars orbiters or from ground observations,’ said Mark Allen, Ph.D., who is the U.S. project scientist for the 2016 Mars mission.